1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for providing an infant care enclosure and more particularly, though not solely to apparatus for providing a enclosed humidified environment to an infant positioned on the mattress of an infant warmer open care bed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The advantages of an open care bed, such as an infant warmer, over an incubator are well known The ability of health care specialists to obtain easy, unhindered access to the infant while providing the infant with a stable temperature environment. The problem of Insensible Water Loss (ISW) whereby a very young infant""s skin easily loses water to the ambient surroundings is also well known and it would be beneficial if the infant could be treated from a bed which combined the convenience of an infant warmer with the ability to maintain a substantially constant level of humidity.
One prior attempt to overcome the above disadvantages is disclosed in United States patent numbers U.S. Pat. No. 649,896 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,229 issued to Air-Shields Inc. This patent discloses an infant warmer which also includes a roll of disposable PVC film which is rolled out to cover the open side of the infant warmer""s bassinet In order to treat the infant it is necessary to remove the film and to reapply a further length over the infant when treatment is completed. A further example is disclosed in United States patent numbers U. S. Pat. No. 4,121,571 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,172 issued to Airborne Life Support Systems Inc. wherein an infant is positioned within a flexible plastics tubular membrane inside a clear, rigid box-like outer enclosure. A humidified gases flow may be passed through the inner flexible tubular membrane and the outer enclosure may be positioned beneath a radiant heat source. This device does not allow adequate or effective access to the infant, especially in emergencies.
An infant xe2x80x9cheatshieldxe2x80x9d construction has been sold under the trade mark IGLOO by Nascor (Pty) Limited of Australia. This device comprises a tough polycarbonate half-cylinder having two detachable soft silicon end caps for access to an infant within However, it is believed that this device is not suitable for use with an overhead heat source such as that of an infant warmer as polycarbonate does not transmit infra-red energy efficiently and is not disposable. Furthermore, this device is not able to be packaged in a collapsible form and therefore takes up excessive space during transportation.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a humidified environment which will go at least some way towards overcoming the above disadvantages or which will at least provide the industry with a useful choice.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the invention consists in an infant care enclosure comprising:
a frame which in use is positioned on a surface,
a flexible cover substantially covering said frame except for the portion of said frame in contact with said surface and adapted to be supported by said frame thereby, and in conjunction with said surface, providing an enclosed space suitable for enclosing an infant, said flexible cover being substantially transparent to infra-red light, said frame having at least one user access port formed therein which is substantially covered by a section of said flexible cover which is larger than the area of said at least one user access port